Toy building set with wall elements

ABSTRACT

A toy building set containing wall elements for the construction of facade structures. The building set includes at least one of each of two types of wall elements: a first type of wall element formed with one opening having hinge parts for suspension of plate elements; and a second type of wall element formed with a plurality of openings, each having hinge parts for suspension of plate elements. The height of the openings in each type of wall element are equal so that the plate elements may fit into the openings of either type of wall element.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention concerns a toy building set with wall elementswhich are constructed as box-shaped elements having outer and innerfacade sides, said inner facade side being open, said wall elementscomprising a first type having at least one opening in the outer facadeside, said opening serving as a window or a door in the element, and asecond type formed with partitions to define shelves having shelfopenings in the inner facade side of the element, hinge parts beingprovided at the window openings or the door openings and the shelfopenings for the mounting of a removable, pivotable plate element.

2. Description of the Prior Art

These wall elements may thus be used for the construction of facades ofa toy house in which windows or doors may selectively be mounted on theouter side of the facade and shelf systems may be provided on the innerside of the facade. Since the wall elements thus comprise a type whichis provided with shelves on the inner facade side of wall elements, thisprior art provide the advantage that it is not necessary for the toybuilding set to use separate shelf elements for mounting interiorly in atoy house which is constructed from the wall elements, since the shelfparts are built into individual ones of the elements.

These known elements e.g. from U.S. Pat. Design No. 291,217, maymoreover be provided with doors and windows, as needed.

Thus, when these wall elements are used in connection with toy buildingsets, the interconnection of the elements may be varied to a very greatextent, such that a relatively small number of elements provides manypossible variations for the construction of toy houses.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In this connection, it is the object of the present invention to providea toy building set with wall elements which, other things being equal,is capable of offering even more variations for the construction of toyhouses, using the same number of or fewer individual parts in the toybuilding set.

This is achieved using wall elements of the type mentioned in theopening paragraph, which are constructed such that the hinge parts ofthe door or window openings and the shelf openings are identical, and inthat the size of the window openings and of the shelf openingscorresponds to integer multiples of the size of the plate element.

Since the plate element may thus constitute a door, a window or thelike, it is possible to change these plate elements about, so that theplate element may have several functions. This means that e.g. a plateelement intended for use as a window in a facade element can also beused as a door in the system of shelves, i.e. the interior which isestablished in the construction of a toy house. In contrast, a plateelement according to the prior art intended to be included in the toybuilding set as a window element can just be used for this purpose.

Thus, the use of the wall elements of the invention makes it possible tobuild a house facade with e.g. windows which are completely open, i.e.no pivotal plate elements are mounted in the window opening, without theplate elements necessarily being superfluous since these may be used inthis situation as doors for the shelves on the inner side of the housefacade.

Particularly discrete hinge parts without protruding parts are obtainedwhen the hinge parts are positioned interiorly in the door or windowopenings and the shelf openings on the elements, as stated in claim 2.

The door or window openings and the shelf openings may either beprovided with hinge parts just at one side of the openings, or at bothsides of the openings, as stated in claims 3 and 4, thereby enabling theplate elements to be positioned in different ways in the openings.

The engagement means defined in claim 5, which protrude into theopenings, ensure that the plate elements cannot be pressed into the wallelement.

It is stated in claim 6 that the wall element may have the same outerdimensions, although this is not a prerequisite for the advantages ofthe invention to be achieved. However, this ensures that the wallelements are mutually exchangeable in a given wall structure, such thatthe construction of a wall structure may be varied additionally.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Expedient embodiments of the invention will be described below withreference to the drawing, in which

FIG. 1 is an oblique front and top view of a first wall elementaccording to the invention with a window opening.

FIG. 2 is an oblique top and rear view of a second element according tothe invention with shelf parts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

According to the invention, a toy building set comprises two types ofwall elements, which may each be represented by the wall elementsaccording to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, respectively.

FIG. 1 thus shows a wall element 1 which is constructed as a box-shapedelement having two side faces 2 and 3, as well as a base 4 and a topface 5. In addition, the wall element 1 has an outer facade side 6 whichis formed with a window opening 7, as well as an inner facade side 8which is open.

The wall element 1 with a window may thus be used as part of a wallstructure, since the element may be built together with other similarelements, e.g. the element shown in FIG. 2.

The window opening 7 in the wall element 1 is provided with hinge parts9 at both sides in which a pivotable and removable plate-shaped elementmay be mounted; this element is not shown for clarity, but is of agenerally known type, which may e.g. be constructed as a window or ashutter. The plate-shaped element is provided with hinge parts in aknown manner which are complementary to the hinge parts 9, so that theplate-shaped element, following mounting in the hinge parts 9, may beopened and closed.

FIG. 2 thus shows the second type of wall element 10, which is likewiseopen on the inner facade side, and which likewise comprises side faces 2and 3, as well as a base 4 and a top face 5. The outer facade side iscompletely closed here, so that the outer facade side of the wallpresents a plane face. In addition, this element 10 is provided with asystem of shelves on its inner facade side, since the partitions 13 and14 divide the interior of the element into separate compartments whichthus constitute the system of shelves. The openings of the system ofshelves are directed toward the inner facade side of the wall elementand are provided with hinge parts 9, which are identical with the hingeparts shown in FIG. 1.

According to the invention, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the shelfopenings on the wall element 10 and the window opening on the wallelement 1 are dimensioned such that windows, shutters or the like whichfit into the hinge parts 9 on one element, also fit into hinge parts 9on the other element.

It is hereby ensured that the wall element may be used both with andwithout windows, shutters, doors or the like. In addition, thesewindows, shutters, doors or the like may selectively be placed in one orthe other element so as to provide a far greater range for the variationof the use of these elements.

It is clear that these shown embodiments of the basic principle of theinvention may be varied in many ways; thus, the outer dimensions of thewall elements may be the same or different, as needed, although it ispreferred that they are the same, since this provides additionalpossibilities of varying the construction of a wall facade. In addition,the compartmentalization in the wall element 10 may be such as toprovide a larger number of compartments, and the positions of these maybe varied.

Similarly, the opening, which is a window opening in FIG. 1, may equallywell be a door opening, so that the wall element constitutes a doorelement. As stated above, the wall element to be mounted in the hingepart 9 in the openings of the wall elements 1, 10 may be constructed inmany ways, i.e. there may e.g. be clear, translucent sections on theelement so that this may form a window or a transparent door, or theelement may be completely opaque, so that the element may form a windowshutter, a door or the like.

I claim:
 1. A toy building set containing building elements, said toybuilding set including at least one of a first type of a wall element,at least one of a second type of wall element and at least one plateelement, each of said wall elements comprising:a rectangular base face;a top face; two opposing side walls; an inner facade face; and an outerfacade face opposite said inner facade face; wherein said outer facadeface of said first type of wall element has an opening defined by saidplurality of side walls, said side walls having adjacent thereto atleast one hinge part; wherein said inner facade face of said second typeof wall element has a plurality of partitions which with said pluralityof side walls define a plurality of openings said side walls of each ofsaid plurality of openings having adjacent thereto at least one hingepart; wherein said first type of wall element has identical outerdimensions as said second type of wall element wherein a height of eachof said plurality of openings of said second type of wall element isequal to a height of said opening of said first type of wall element sothat said plate element is removably and pivotably mountable in said atleast one hinge part of either of said first wall element or said secondwall elements; and wherein said second type of wall element is a singleintegral structure.
 2. A toy building set containing building elements,said toy building set including at least one of a first type of a wallelement, at least one of a second type of wall element and at least oneplate element, each of said wall elements comprising:a rectangular baseface; a top face; two opposing side walls; an inner facade face; and anouter facade face opposite said inner facade face; wherein said outerfacade face of said first type of wall element has an opening defined bysaid plurality of side walls, said side walls having adjacent thereto atleast one hinge part; wherein said inner facade face of said second typeof wall element has a plurality of partitions which along with portionsof said side walls define a plurality of openings said side wall portionof each of said plurality of openings having adjacent thereto at leastone hinge part; wherein a height of each of said plurality of openingsof said second type of wall element is equal to a height of said openingof said first type of wall element so that said plate element isremovably and pivotably mountable in said at least one hinge part ofeither of said first wall element or said second wall element; andwherein the overall height of said first type of wall element is equalto the overall height of said second type of wall element.
 3. A toybuilding set according to claim 1 or 2 wherein each of said at least onehinge part of said first type of wall element is positioned interiorlyof said outer facade face and each of said at least one hinge part ofsaid second type of wall element is positioned interiorly of said innerfacade face.
 4. A toy building set according to claim 1 or 2 wherein oneside of said opening of said first type of wall element includes said atleast one hinge part and wherein one side of each of said plurality ofopenings of said second type of wall element includes said at least onehinge part.
 5. A toy building set according to claim 1 or 2 wherein eachof two sides of said opening of said first type of wall element includessaid hinge part and wherein each of two sides of each of said pluralityof openings of said second type of wall element includes said hingepart.
 6. A toy building set according to claim 1 or 2, wherein saidopening of said first type of wall element and each of said plurality ofopenings of said second type of wall element is formed with engagementmeans which protrude into the openings so that the plate element isprevented from pivoting into the openings.